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Dell corrals Penguins in 2-1
win
Netminder makes 31 saves in big Sharks
win
It wasn't a Stanley Cup Championship, but the
Sharks will take a regular season win over the Pittsburgh Penguins any day of
the week. In the only visit of the year by San Jose's Stanley Cup Finals
tormentors, the Penguins fell to a Sharks team that stifled them defensively
and used a 3rd period power play goal to knock off Pittsburgh 2-1 in an action
packed affair at SAP Center.
After putting starting goaltender Martin
Jones on the shelf with an undisclosed lower body injury, the Sharks turned to
backup Aaron Dell to defend their net against the offensively minded Penguins.
Pittsburgh was also without their starting netminder Matt Murray, who returned
home following the death of his father. The Penguins leaned on Casey DeSmith,
who was making his 4th NHL appearance.
Both goaltenders turned in
yeoman's performances. DeSmith made 34 saves, but Dell seemed to face more
dangerous chances while making 31 saves on the night. The Penguins had more
quality scoring chances early in the contest even though they were out-shot
14-8 in the opening period.
Pittsburgh grabbed an early lead after a
Dominik Simon pass from behind the San Jose net hit a Sharks stick and
deflected right to Conor Sheary for a quick shot that slipped past Dell. Sheary
was in the perfect spot to collect the deflection as he cut toward the
goalmouth from just outside the right post.
San Jose turned up the
heat on Penguins with about 8 minutes remaining in the period. Timo Meier
finally cashed in with a snipe from the left side after Joe Pavelski found him
with a cross-ice pass as the Sharks rushed up ice. Meier put the puck inside
the right post to beat DeSmith under the glove for his 10th tally of the
season.
Both teams tried to solve the other in the 2nd period, but
lockdown defense by both squads kept the scoring chances limited. DeSmith made
a blind save on a Kevin Labanc chance from the doorstep after the Sharks
forward found himself with the puck just 3 feet outside the crease. Dell made a
clutch save with less than 15 seconds left in the period to keep things
deadlocked after 40 minutes.
Jamie Oleksiak put the Sharks on the
power play 1:49 into the 3rd period after he slashed Joonas Donskoi. San Jose
wasted no time on the power play, when Tomas Hertl converted off a rebound 4
seconds into the power play. Pavelski rifled a shot from the right side,
hitting DeSmith in the left pad. Hertl grabbed the rebound off the backhand and
shifted to his forehand before slipping the puck around the left side of
DeSmith for his 13th goal of the season.
The rest of the contest was a
hair raising back-and-forth affair that left the sellout crowd on their feet.
Each team traded scoring chances near the midway mark of the period, then the
Penguins were forced to turn up the effort in order to try and score the
equalizer.
The key however was the defensive clamps the Sharks
slapped on the Penguins. Pittsburgh was held to 4 shots through the first 13
minutes of the final period and finished the frame with a total of 8 pucks that
reached Dell.
Pittsburgh pulled DeSmith with 2 minutes to play,
taunting the Sharks with the empty net. San Jose came within a hair of scoring
when they controlled the puck in the Pittsburgh zone, but the Penguins skaters
managed to keep a pair of shots from crossing the goal line.
Dell did
the rest. The key to his evening was the absence of any rebounds. The
goaltender seemed to absorb everything the Penguins threw at him, without
allowing any second chances opportunities.
Game Notes:
* The Sharks signed 15-year-old Make-A-Wish recipient Hayden Bradley to a three
day contract and joined the Sharks on the ice for the pre-game warm-up and took
the ceremonial faceoff opposite Sydney Crosby. Bradley was born with a
participated in his own post game media scrum after the game.
* Kevin
Labanc may not want to see DeSmith for a while. The Sharks forward was stoned
twice by the Penguins goaltender on would be goals during the game. Labanc will
get another crack at the Penguins in ten days when the Sharks travel to
Pennsylvania.
* Evgeni Malkin may want to rethink his decision to go
after Tomas Hertl with just over three minutes to play in the game. The
Penguins forward decided to cross check the Sharks forward, which ended with a
few players going at it. Hertl was also sent off, but the Penguins could have
used Malkin's offense as they tried to scratch out a tying goal. Hertl cheered
on his team from the penalty box for most of his two minutes.
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think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| PIT |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| SJ |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
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| 1st period - 1, PIT,
Sheary 12 (Simon, Crosby), 3:18. 2, SJ, Meier 10 (Pavelski, Burns), 17:44.
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| 3rd period - 3, SJ,
Hertl 13 (Pavelski, Burns), 1:53, (pp). |
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| 1st period - Karlsson,
SJ (cross checking), 5:19; Bench, PIT (too many men), 11:23. |
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| 2nd period - Burns, SJ
(tripping), 2:12; Simon, PIT (slashing), 4:55; Demelo, SJ (hooking), 6:44.
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| 3rd period - Oleksiak,
PIT (cross checking), 1:49; Malkin, PIT (cross checking), 16:46; Hertl, SJ
(roughing), 16:46. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| PIT - Desmith |
36 |
34 |
| SJ - Dell |
32 |
31 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| PIT |
8 |
16 |
8 |
32 |
| SJ |
14 |
11 |
11 |
36 |
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| Referees:
O'Halloran, Luxmore. Linesmen: Cherrey, Heyer. |
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